The Eleanor Roosevelt Papers, Digital Edition > My Day
My Day by Eleanor Roosevelt

      

HYDE PARK, Friday—Over the radio this morning, I heard them say that yesterday—in New York City, at least—had been the sanest Fourth of July that the police had ever experienced. It is rather a relief not to be awakened by firecrackers at dawn, and to wonder all day whether children are going to dash in reporting various kinds of accidents. Mine were never allowed to handle anything which could do real harm, but I can remember making plenty of noise as a child, and my children certainly made plenty of noise.

I doubt very much, however, whether any of our children were conscious of the real meaning of Independence Day, and I wish that, as a nation, we could adopt some kind of observances which would bring home to us all why we celebrate the day and would remind us of the names of the men who did so much to start us in building our freedom.

* * *

Yesterday, the maids from both my son's house and my own went off in the afternoon for a picnic, so we combined and had one of our own. We cooked our own steaks over the charcoal grill and decided that it was quite the best meat we had had in a long time.

I had been a little nervous about our steaks, because they came from a cow not designed to serve as prime beef, but I must say that every bit of the meat put into our freezer has been good. And I have been grateful many a time for the things that we have grown on the farm this summer. Just now, we are a little swamped by peas, which we have been putting up in large quantities for use later on.

* * *

I wonder if the new OPA bill which is promised to us will overcome the President's objections to the last one, and really be a bill which will safeguard the people's interests. The way prices have jumped up in the last few days must have made those who hoped for self-control wonder whether one can ever control that instinct in human beings which makes them try to get all they can in the way of cash returns. Human nature seems to have one great failing—it concentrates on immediate results and forgets about the future.

I have heard a great deal from my farmer friends about the hardships they have endured because the price of milk was kept down, and I personally am glad if the farmers can get a fair return for their produce at all times. However, I must say that, on the whole, as I drive through the countryside, there is evidence that farm returns have not been bad in the last year. Barns and houses are newly painted and there is a general air of greater well-being.

Of course, there must be many cases where this is not true, but, by and large, the evidence points to a satisfactory prosperity in which we should all rejoice, because farm prosperity also means prosperity for the working man in the city.

(WORLD COPYRIGHT, 1946, BY UNITED FEATURE SYNDICATE, INC.; REPRODUCTION IN WHOLE OR PART PROHIBITED.)

E.R.


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About this document

My Day by Eleanor Roosevelt, July 6, 1946

Roosevelt, Eleanor, 1884-1962
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Digital edition created by The Eleanor Roosevelt Papers Project The George Washington University 312 Academic Building 2100 Foxhall Road, NW Washington, DC 20007

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Digital edition published 2008, 2017 by
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Available under licence from the Estate of Anna Eleanor Roosevelt.

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MEP edition publlished on June 30, 2008.

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Transcription created from a photocopy of a UFS wire copy of a My Day column instance archived at the Franklin D. Roosevelt Library.
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